New Alliances
by Airluwena
Summary: Prequel to 'Verasha's Tale'.


New Alliances  
  
Verasha awoke to the sound of a light scratching at the door.  
  
"Miss?"  
  
Verasha rubbed her eyes and sleepily mumbled, "huh?"  
  
"It's the first day of training. You need to get up."  
  
"Ok. I'll be there in a sec." Verasha threw back the sheets and jumped out of bed. She was more excited then she had ever been in her whole life. Of course, she was only six years old.  
  
When she was born, or so she'd been told, her power level was large enough that her parents decided to have her train. Ever since she was three she had been training. It was an honor for her, only a little girl, to be moved up two whole classes.  
  
After she had put on her lose shorts and shirt, she glanced over at the heavy training gauntlets that her circle of friends had given her. She'd miss them, but she looked forward to making her mother and father proud of her.  
"Why does she have to be in MY class?"  
  
Verasha sighed. Raditz, her half brother, never liked her being around him. "It's bad enough that they let HER advance, but to have her in the SAME class as me? If my REAL father were here, he wouldn't let her do as she pleases. She's only a girl and they aren't good for anything but continuing our race." He smirked, "my father's rank is higher then yours-"  
  
A cutting motion from Granal ended the barrage of insults from Raditz. "Enough! YOUR father sent you here for training, he didn't say you were here to run MY house. Verasha is MY full-blooded daughter. You're only my stepson. No matter what your mother or father say, she takes precedence over YOU. Especially when her power level is higher then yours. What do you think your father would say if he knew that a GIRL half your age was even stronger then you?" He chuckled. "I think he'd agree with me by putting her in a better class, even if it is YOURS." He sighed and shook his head, looking down at Raditz with pity in his eyes. "Come on, your acting like a baby. Suck it up, and take it like a Saiyan."  
  
Raditz turned bright red through the whole scolding. He locked his jaw and narrowed his eyes. "What ever you say," he said through clenched teeth. Storming out of the hall, he kicked at every door in his way. "What a big baby!" Her father sighed and looked behind him. "You can come out now."  
  
Verasha let out the breath she had been holding. The thought had crossed her mind that if Raditz could convince her father to not let her go then she would be knocked back to the original class she was in. After seeing her father take her side, she knew nothing could get in the way now.  
  
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to over hear your conversation with Raditz, but I was on my way out and I didn't want to be rude and interrupt."  
  
Her sire chuckled. "It's ok. Now let's get going, you should be on time to your first class."  
"Awwww. Did the baby fall down?" The boys chuckled at her mistake. They had been at her all day long. Their Sensei just glared or shook his head at their antics. Verasha wished she could just go over to them and knock the leader in the nose, but that would show undiscipline.  
  
"Do it again, Verasha." The Sensei told her blandly. Verasha thought, deep down, that he didn't like her and didn't want a 'girl' in his class.  
  
Verasha just sighed and got up. She went through a series of punches, low and high, then did the combination that she had messed up. Jumping back, she drew her fists back into a fighting stance. The left fist backhanded the pretend enemy as her right one followed quickly after the first. Then exactly after her right fist would have connected with her opponent, she drew back her left fist and punched exactly where the other two hits would have been. She dropped down and swept her leg across the mat, making sure this time not to lose her balance.  
  
The Sensei chuckled and clapped. "Good. Actually, better then good. That's the best I've seen out of this lot yet." He smirked as the rest of the boys flushed. "I want you all to practice that sequence." He smiled at her and gestured towards a bench on the side. "You've done more then your fair share and you've gotten most of the fighting stances and techniques down in two tries. Go rest little one, and watch the rest carefully. After this I'll pair you off with a partner." With that being said he started yelling instructions at the rest of the class.  
  
Verasha obediently sat down and caught her breath. She let her gaze travel over the rest of the class. Her brother was glaring at her and whispering to the other boys that were teasing her. Verasha sighed and looked away, knowing that she'd have problems with them for a long time.  
  
A fast and short figure caught her eye. He looked to be about her age and about as fast as she. Verasha smiled and waved a bit, as he looked her way. He just rolled his eyes at her and looked away. She sighed heavily, wondering if she'd make any friends in this class. After taking in a deep breath she closed her eyes, trying to calm her nerves. Of course she'd make friends... They couldn't hate her forever, could they? It didn't matter anyway; she was here to learn, not to make friends. Verasha took in a few more deep breaths for good measure, then opened her eyes. The Sensei had moved to the short boy and was watching his every move.  
  
"No... Your not supposed to kick that high. Your SUPPOSED to be pretending that your fighting some one your size, you can learn to adjust later... Hey! What did I just say?! Lower that KICK!" After a few times of telling him to lower his kick, the Sensei looked like he was ready to tear his hair out. "FINE! If you think your ready to take on some one MY age and size then go ahead and tr-" The short boy quickly kicked the Sensei in his solar plexus, knocking the air out of him with a loud "HMPH."  
  
The boy chuckled as the rest of the class started wide-eyed at the pair. "No one's been able to do THAT before," whispered one of Raditz's friends. Raditz nodded and glared at the boy. Verasha blinked and smiled before muttering. "Jeez Raditz, is EVERYONE on your shit list?" Raditz's friends laughed and one of them patted her on the back. "Your not all that bad kid!" Verasha winced, knowing that she'd hear it from Raditz for embarrassing him like that.  
  
Their Sensei got to his feet and stared at the boy for a few seconds before looking over the rest of the class. "Well, that's it for today." He cleared his throat before continuing. "You all did an ok job. I want to see an improvement tomorrow though, so practice that sequence a few times. Oh, and Raditz? You really need to clean up those punches... They were all over the place. DECIDE on an area to hit, and hit it. If you try to fight that way, you'll only end up getting hurt. Direct hits to sensitive spots on the body are the key. Of course, you should already KNOW that by now..." He smiled at Verasha then smirked at Raditz. "Your sister is far better then you... Perhaps you two should have just exchanged classes with each other." With one last glance at the short boy, he turned around on his heel and strode to his office.  
  
The other children murmured as they gathered their things then let out whoops of delight as they opened the door to the bright daylight out side. Verasha sighed and gathered her things as well. Well... Today definitely was one to remember. She knew deep down inside that it couldn't always be like this. She decided to walk home since it was such a nice day, and it would give her time to think.  
  
A shadow blocked the sun for a moment, then some thing slammed into the back of her head. "Wha?!"  
  
"BRAT! You embarrassed me on purpose in class." Raditz kicked her in the gut before she fully knew what was going on. "You won't show me up, not ever." Another kick, this one landed to her temple, nearly knocking her unconscious.  
  
"Stop it Raditz! She's only a little kid-" The boy that had defended her was punched right between the eyes, sending him sprawling backwards. That was enough time for her to get up on her feet and into a fighting stance. Just as she was about to challenge him to truly fight her, the small boy jumped in front of them both.  
  
"Picking on kids younger then you Raditz? Really, I would have thought better of one descended from such noble blood as yours..." The boy smirked and shrugged, "but then, I guess I would expect that from one that is not part of the elite bloodline."  
  
Raditz gritted his teeth. "Just because your prince Vegeta, doesn't make you better then me."  
  
Vegeta blinked and looked surprised. "What?! OF course it does! Your nothing, and if you continue to fight like that, your not going to BE anything. Ever."  
  
Verasha blinked. THAT was the prince? And he was in her class? Well that was kind of cool...  
  
Raditz turned several shades of red before flying off in a cloud of dust. Vegeta smirked as he turned to her.  
  
"Wait!" She frowned as she watched Raditz fly off. "Why'd you have to go and do that?! I had everything under control before you came."  
  
Vegeta stared at her, completely dumbfounded. "WHAT?! I just SAVED your butt, and you yell at me? Not even one thank you? Well FINE... Don't expect me to do that again."  
  
"Good, then you wouldn't get in my way next time." She started to float up when Vegeta growled and pulled her back down.  
  
"What?! I'm in YOUR way? Humph... You think your that good at fighting, eh? FINE, meet me at the park and we'll see who's bes- HEY!" He yelled after her as she flew off to the park. She was mad enough that her own half brother would jump her, and now some spoiled BRAT wants to fight her? She knew she could win, if by sheer will alone. She just simply refused to lose.  
  
Vegeta followed quickly behind her. After catching up he turned to look at her, then zoomed off to the park. Verasha's nose wrinkled as she sped up. What a show off...  
  
"Are you sure you want to face me? I AM the prince you know, and I'm sure I could easily beat you. I won't tell any one if you turn and leave right now to save yourself from further embarrassment." Vegeta sneered at her.  
  
She chuckled as she looked him over, trying to assess any obvious weak points. "Do you ALWAYS talk that much BS, or do you just save it for fights you know your going to lose?" Verasha sighed inwardly. He wasn't as soft as she thought, this wouldn't be an easy fight... But, easy fights are for wimps like Raditz, she told her self, so she better get used to fighting with saiyans more on her level. Vegeta glared at her and got into his fighting stance. He slid his left foot back, pulling his left fist back to just under his ribcage. His right hand came to rest in front of him as his eyes darted around for any one that would break up their fight.  
  
The park was normally empty of people since the adults would rather train after they got out of work, instead of at night. Verasha rocked to the balls of her feet, testing how slick the springy blue-green grass was. The bright day had dried out any drops of water that would have remained from the usual watering. She nodded and got into a similar stance as Vegeta after determining that the grass here would provide good footing.  
  
They both stared each other down for what seemed like hours. Neither of them moved and both were too stubborn to take the first action. Verasha blinked and suddenly Vegeta's foot was flying towards her head. She dropped to the ground and kicked as hard as she could at his remaining leg. As soon as he had seen her drop he started to flip backwards, her kick barely missing. She slid a bit before grabbing a hold of the grass with both hands. Verasha used her legs to push against the ground to give her a quick lunge towards him, her fists out. He didn't have time to recover from the back flip as her fist slammed into his upper ribcage. Vegeta let out a low growl and caught her arm, flipping her over his shoulder as he completed his flip. She landed on her back with a grunt. She quickly reached up and grabbed his upper arm and pulled him down as she brought up her knee to meet with his forehead. Since her movement was so quick he didn't have time to react, except making a loud growl.  
  
Verasha saw that she had really ticked him off so she let go of him and rolled out of the way. Vegeta stumbled backwards for a step before regaining his composure. They lunged for each other again and fought until dusk settled over the park.  
  
The cold air nipped at their cuts as every movement some how touched a bruise. After yet another string of attacks they backed off, both trying to catch their breath. Verasha smirked at the look on his face. In unison they stepped out of the fighting stances, and laughed.  
  
She smiled and walked over to him, holding out her hand. "My name is Verasha..." He took her hand and shook as much as either of them could move their sore bodies. "It's nice to meet you... and finally nice to meet some one who isn't either scared they would hurt 'the prince', or scared that I'll hurt THEM."  
  
"Ha! Why would I be scared that YOU would hurt me, I WAS winning." Verasha beamed and rocked back on her heels before she turned to leave the park.  
  
"Yeah right! You were not, I was about to win, but YOU gave up." Vegeta smiled and lifted his chin as she spun around.  
  
"In your dreams! I would have won, and you know it!" They glared at each other again before laughing. "Well.. How about a truce then? And hey, maybe we'll be sparring partners and we'll get to REALLY see who's better."  
  
Vegeta nodded and floated off the ground. "It's a deal. See you tomorrow." He waved his tail at her and began to fly off until he took another glance back at her. Her face was swollen and bloodied, her knuckles were torn up and she had to have had plenty of bruises where he couldn't see them. Vegeta sighed and grabbed her tail. "Come on, you need to see a doctor and the ones at the palace are the best. 'Sides, you'll fight better with out all of those bruises."  
  
Verasha swatted at Vegeta's hand before floating up to meet him. "Well no shit!" She rolled her eyes and looked him over. "I hope you're not as dumb as you look... So far it seems like you are. AND you're in no better condition then I am. So lets go." She smiled as his tail became three times its normal size. "Awwww. Put that thing away and let's go get fixed up, alright?"  
  
His tail wrapped around his waist again. He flew close to her so that their faces were only inches apart. "You are one of the rudest, bossiest creatures I've EVER met. Hmph... YOU need to learn to respect me, I AM your prince." He stuck out his tongue and crossed his eyes before he darted off.  
  
"I AM?! What about you?" She yelled as she flew after him, their banter drawing saiyan's heads out of doors and windows. She smiled as he yelled some thing rude back to her. Maybe she was wrong... Maybe she did make a friend. 


End file.
